Primary care staff in Swansea Bay are enhancing their skills by learning more about a variety of topics related to women’s health.

The health board’s Primary and Community Care Academy supports primary care staff to access education and training opportunities which can help them to upskill.

The Academy’s aim is to help develop the primary care workforce and, in doing so, it is hoped that staff will be able to provide a wider range of services and interventions in the community.

Pictured: Rhian Jones, Academy manager, and Jessica Beer, primary and community care education and training development officer at the Academy.

Staff have recently undergone various training sessions to learn more about topics including menopause, contraception and endometriosis, with more planned in the coming months.

Some of the sessions have been led and supported by Swansea Bay’s hospital-based obstetricians and gynaecologists.

It is hoped that enhancing staff’s skills will help patients receive appropriate and timely care, while also reducing unnecessary hospital referrals.

The training follows the introduction of the Welsh Government’s Women’s Health Plan for Wales, a 10-year vision to improve healthcare services for women.

Rachel Brace, health board Primary and Community Care Academy clinical lead, said: “We were allocated funding to deliver training programmes for primary care staff.

“The programme provides a mixture of accredited learning, face-to-face events, e-learning, online courses, and more.

“We have been able to cover lots of topics including enhancing services in primary care, fitting contraceptive coils and implants, management of menopause, libido in perimenopause and endometriosis, among other things.

“We have used feedback from some of our earlier sessions to help shape some of our upcoming sessions too, which has been really helpful.”

Working with hospital-based colleagues to deliver some of the training has helped to raise awareness of referral pathways and services available to help support patients.

Dr Manju Nair, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist and menopause specialist in Swansea Bay, has been supporting the Academy to organise these training sessions.

“The sessions are based on the key priority areas identified in the Women’s Health Plan,” she said.

“Primary care is often the first point of contact for women, so equipping clinicians with up-to-date knowledge is essential for early recognition, timely referral, and consistent management of women’s health conditions.

“These sessions also provide practical guidance on referral pathways, available services, and a space for open dialogue, allowing primary and secondary care colleagues to share experiences and address challenges.

“We hope that these sessions in conjunction with clearer pathways, will ultimately result in improved patient experiences and outcomes for women across Swansea Bay.”

Rachel added: “We have managed to pull together a big programme of training and education.

“We want to help upskill primary care staff in this area, and hopefully it will have benefits such as improved care and reducing unnecessary or inappropriate referrals too.”